A man was caught driving while disqualified and 16 times the limit for cocaine less than a year after his drug-fuelled crash killed a young passenger.

Samuel Crutchley was convicted of drug-driving when he was pulled over while driving last month in what a judge called an "incomprehensible" act because of what happened last year, reports Derbyshire Live.

The 28-year-old was 14 times the legal cocaine limit, twice the drink-drive limit and knew he had a defective tyre when he got behind the wheel of his BMW.

Crutchley crashed his car after spending the night drinking and doing drugs, resulting in the death of 21-year-old Josh Brown.

Derby Crown Court heard how his impairment was such that a police expert estimated he was 11 times more likely to kill someone in a collision, such was his condition.

'Senseless driving robbed family'

Jailing Crutchley for seven-and-a-half years, Judge Robert Egbuna said: “I have no doubt if you could relive the events of that night you would not have got in that car and driven.

“It was not your intention to cause the death of Josh.

“It never gives the court pleasure to sentence an individual to a lengthy prison sentence but your senseless driving robbed Josh’s family of the apple of their eye.

“Your family has the opportunity to see you grow up and hopefully mature.

“Josh’s family just have photographs and treasured memories.

“You have to reflect and ask yourself, having drank twice the legal limit for alcohol and consumed 14 times the limit for cocaine whether you can properly say you were not grossly impaired when you drove that car.”

Scene of the crash

James Thomas, prosecuting, said Mr Brown was thrown from the car after the crash.

He said Mr Brown was declared dead at the scene of the crash in Aston Lane, Sudbury, at 4.25am on January 27 last year.

He said the victim had been out with Crutchley, 28, and other people at the Roebuck pub in Draycott-in-the-Clay where they began drinking.

Mr Thomas said the group then went on to Manhattans nightclub in Uttoxeter before returning to the car park of the Roebuck where five of them got into Crutchley’s BMW.

He said: “The defendant knew one of his car tyres had a slow puncture as he carried a portable tyre inflater in his vehicle.

“Josh reluctantly got into the car with the others and was in the back middle passenger seat.

“It was suggested that the defendant go a back route (to Mr Brown’s home in Hilton) as he had been drinking.”

Accelerated to 70mph

Mr Thomas said Crutchley began “messing about,” pretending his car was running out of petrol by deliberately jolting it as he drove.

He then got on to the 60mph limit single-track Aston Lane where the road conditions were damp.

Mr Thomas said Crutchley accelerated to a speed later calculated by police collision investigators to be “around 70mph” before losing control and crashing into a hedge.

(Image: Derbyshire Live)

He said: “Sadly, Josh Brown was ejected from the rear window and suffered fatal injuries.

“The other people in the vehicle walked away with minor injuries.”

Mr Thomas said the police were called and Crutchley blew a positive reading for drink-driving at the scene.

He said his blood was later analysed and readings showed he was twice the legal limit for alcohol and an astonishing 14 times the legal limit for driving while under the influence of cocaine.

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Mr Thomas told the court how last month, almost a year after he killed Mr Brown, Crutchley was convicted of drug-driving while 16 times over the same cocaine limit when he was pulled over and tested while driving a Volkswagen car in Ashbourne.

What was said for Crutchley?

Crutchley, a father-of-one, of Stafford Road, Uttoxeter, pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving.

Joe Harvey, mitigating, said: “He has to accept that a combination of various factors led to the death of Josh Brown.

“Mr Crutchley cannot find the words to explain the impact it has had on him.

“He has suffered as a consequence of the enormity of his actions.

“He recognises that he walked away relatively unscathed which he feels is particularly unjust and he struggles to come to terms with that.

The scene of the crash (Image: Derbyshire Live / Martin Naylor)

“He describes his life being wrecked, destroyed and ruined that night.”

Mr Harvey said in relation to the drug-drive incident that occurred almost a year after he caused the death of Mr Brown, he said his client was using cocaine “to try and numb the pain of what he was responsible for”.

As well as the jail term, Judge Egbuna disqualified Crutchley from driving for six years which will begin after he is released halfway through his sentence.